LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Booked Solid |
Reviews by Rebecca James |
As evening arrives earlier and earlier and the nights grow colder, my internal clock edges closer to its "hibernate" setting. I am forced by some primal instinct to run to my local bookstore and stockpile reading provisions that will last until spring (or until those holiday gift certificates start to roll in). My bookshelves bear the weight of past seasons' supplies and I have decided to revisit them as I unpack in my winter abode. There's a definite need to plan ahead when one is selecting the book friends to be visited during the winter. Like a well-diversified stock portfolio, your reading library should be prepared to accommodate a variety of outside constraints, whether it be that pesky job (or lack thereof) or mid-season reruns of ER. With this in mind, I've composed several reading lists to fit any situation you may encounter during Rehoboth's off-season. The best books to have with you if you're spending the winter in Key West (or any other warm spot) can be found in any summer issue of Letters from CAMP. Now take your tanned oiled butt away so the rest of us can talk cold, ice, snow and the high cost of heating oil. Seriously, if you are planning a warm winter vacation, I suggest packing a few fluffy but entertaining paperbacks. Many independent bookstores have a used paperback sectiontry Browseabout if you're in Rehobothwhere you can find sandy bestsellers ready for perusal. Some good picks include mystery writers Patricia Cornwell, Katherine V. Forrest (Lambda Award Winner), Sue Grafton and Scott Turow. Now, to effectively prepare for your contemporary fiction fix, first consider what type of stories you have enjoyed most in the past: suspense or drama? humorous or cynical? What "person" do you prefer, books with a narrator that speaks in "I's" or novels that give you a little of everyone's perspective? Don't forget to read a few pages at random to see if it agrees with you. One source for gay reading is the Lambda Book Report; since 1988, the organization has issued awards each year to the top GLBT authors in many categories. Lambda's recommended books for gay men include Golden Boy and The Hidden Law by Michael Nava (mystery), Living Upstairs by Joseph Hansen (fiction) and Eighty-sixed by David Feinburg (fiction). Lesbians can still find solace with mainstream hits by Rita Mae Brown (stay away from the cat mysteries) and Dorothy Allison (trust metwo completely different genres) or Jeanette Winterson (try Written on the Body) but don't forget about Audre Lorde (Zami) and Jane Rule (In the Attic of the House). Newer releases include novels by Blanche McCrary Boyd (Revolution of Little Girlsa little depressing but worth reading, her writing is like Toni Morrison's, a little lyrical or without a traditional plot), Sarah Van Arsdale (Toward Amnesia) and Nisa Donnelly (The Bar Stories is funny, entertaining and engrossing). Tipping the Velvet and Affinity by Sarah Waters (one of my favorites), Love, the Magician by Brian Bouldrey and Allan Stein by Matthew Stadler (this year's Lambda pick for the guys) are other contemporary favorites. Keep an eye peeled for gayfriendly authors (you know, those mainstream novelists that have recently discovered that meeting gay people makes for interesting character development). I still think it's more fun to come across a good gay character in a book that I picked up simply for its jacket description than to always read a novel by and for gay people. To satisfy an intellectual urge, we turn to the classics. Since my generation technically considers anything written before the mid-seventies to be a classic, this could present a problem. However, I have taken the liberty of dividing the gay moldy oldies into several sub-categories. Together, we can examine cult classics (1930s to Stonewall), early 20th century writers and "really old stuff"19th century and earlier. Cult classics are essential gay reading, and what better time to catch up on what you may have missed the first time around than winter. Frequently written in a "coded" language, these stories are famous for their delicate treatment of gay and lesbian relationships. Usually tormented and confused individuals are forced to reconsider their secret passions following a heated love affair of the minds. The writing is as beautiful and confusing as the hero or heroine, but each story has been analyzed and critiqued so many times that you will have no shortage of opinions to review. Did you miss class the day Gertrude Stein, Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf were discussed? That's okay because your professor probably wasn't as hip to the coded scene as today's GLBT Studies' profs. Salisbury State University's Gay and Lesbian Literature course used texts by Lillian Faderman and Mark Mitchell to introduce students to queer reading. Mitchell's is edited poorly and gives little or no history on the authors but Faderman's is excellent, although it only deals with women writers. Gore Vidal (The City and the Pillar) and Ward Thomas (Stranger in the Land) both graced the 1940s with their work and the 1950s left us Claire Morgan's The Price of Salt (one of the first lesbian novels I ever read). Early 20th century writers are more ambiguousthey're the famous authors we all read in high school and college (or were supposed to read) but never received any personal information about. These authors frequently led secret, closeted lives and even married to protect themselves and their families from public scandal. Langston Hughes and other writers of the Harlem Renaissance are often listed with gay anthologies. Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness, which tells the tragic story of Stephen Gordon, a "congenital invert," a man trapped in a woman's body (as Hall believed she was) was published in 1928. Hall, who was independently wealthy, did not worry about public opinion. As for the "real old stuff," the waters are somewhat murkier. Again, try to find a good book on queer critique of each work if you want to glean the most from it. Both of the texts mentioned earlier (Faderman and Mitchell) go back pretty far and they offer excerpts from larger works for you to examine. My teapot is whistling and there's a fat cat waiting to curl up in my lap, so perhaps this is a good time to sign off and begin my own hibernation. I know I have quite a few books on my winter list and I hope that now you do, too. Happy hunting! |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 14, Oct. 20, 2000. |